From Russia...

After leaving the harbour we headed 60 kms east of Kirkenes to the small village Grense Jakobselv. Here the border with Russia is marked by a small river with yellow Norwegian border posts on our bank and red/green Russian border posts on the other bank.

Andy decided to see if he could throw a stone across to the Russian side

A little further down where the river meets the Barents Sea the main Russian and Norweigan border bases stare at each other from either side. The Russian boder base is below:

Anomosity between the neighbouring countries is nothing new, local residents complained of repeated raids and border disputes with both Russia and Finland in 1869 and requested better border fortifications. King Oscar II refused and decided to solve the problem by cultural enlightenment and had this church built instead.

It is a gorgeous little church, but just a little bit out of place amoungst the various border posts and bases whcih dominates this area.